West Pine

[RiseAndGrind]

This is what West Pine Gym looks like now. I was...shocked.

http://www.slu.edu/x85999.xml

[jimbofive]

I'm gonna save MB73 the time and say that that looks pretty foo foo to me. Seems to me they should replace all those little flags of countries that don't matter with a huge AMERICAN flag. And all that foo foo furniture with about a hundred plates.

[MB73]

Great.

Let's bring in global competitors, educate them, allow them to use their superior USA education to compete against the us, using slave labor to undercut our costs of manufacturing after they develop business plans, etc.

India is among the most famous for obtaining USA scholarships, though there are plenty others, attending USA universities, getting MBA's, science PhD's, whatever, then going back and using their education to undercut USA companies.

I have personally been contacted and / or involved in these situations in the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses. Paying people slave labor, they can still ship over the oceans and low ball our prices. I mostly told them to stuff it.

Damn I liked that gym. Now it is a foo-foo political symbol of our foolish generosity. They are laughing at us. We are getting scammed.

[MB73]

Wow I wrote that before seeing Jimbo. I used the "foo foo" in a different context in some ways, but Jimbo was all over it.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Great.

Let's bring in global competitors, educate them, allow them to use their superior USA education to compete against the us, using slave labor to undercut our costs of manufacturing after they develop business plans, etc.

India is among the most famous for obtaining USA scholarships, though there are plenty others, attending USA universities, getting MBA's, science PhD's, whatever, then going back and using their education to undercut USA countries.

I have personally been contacted and / or involved in these situations in the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses. Paying people slave labor, they can still ship over the oceans and low ball our prices. I mostly told them to stuff it.

Damn I liked that gym. Now it is a foo-foo political symbol of our foolish generosity. They are laughing at us. We are getting scammed.

Candidate for post of the year.

[BillikenFriar]

Also, the metric system is for *******.

[RiseAndGrind]

Great.

Let's bring in global competitors, educate them, allow them to use their superior USA education to compete against the us, using slave labor to undercut our costs of manufacturing after they develop business plans, etc.

India is among the most famous for obtaining USA scholarships, though there are plenty others, attending USA universities, getting MBA's, science PhD's, whatever, then going back and using their education to undercut USA countries.

I have personally been contacted and / or involved in these situations in the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses. Paying people slave labor, they can still ship over the oceans and low ball our prices. I mostly told them to stuff it.

Damn I liked that gym. Now it is a foo-foo political symbol of our foolish generosity. They are laughing at us. We are getting scammed.

But not totally stuff it?

[DirtyRican]

I will miss the old West Pine Gym. Running those stupid stairs, batting practice in the dungeon upstairs and study hall in the basement. On a few occasions I leven left some night before Humps beer, burger and fries on the floor. RIP

[MB73]

But not totally stuff it?

To be specific, I did not work directly with the Asian companies. I accepted consulting fees from USA PE companies that were considering investing huge sums in some of these companies, and after reviewing all aspects of the business models, I made recommendations on whether or not to invest. One Asian company with Ivy League MBA owners failed after a few years, severe quality problems, recalls, products used in hospitals on human patients. So I saved the USA PE company from making a huge mistake.

Direct offers from the Asian companies were flatly rejected. Told them to stuff it.

Not sure if you understand at all. Doubt it. Hate to see the good old West Pine Gym used this way, what, $ 8 million to revamp?

[Pistol]

From a SLU basketball fan's standpoint, I don't understand how this can be a negative. We no longer have to take recruits in there to show them one of the worst facilities in Division I for practice and conditioning. They could have turned it into the MB73 School of Interpretive Ballet for all I care.

As it stands, it looks pretty nice. For those who haven't looked through the slideshow, there's an auditorium on the other side of the partition. Given the limitations of the building, they did what appears to be a nice job with it. My understanding is that there were a lot of challenges to tearing the building down, so there were going to be very limited options for what they could do with it. I had originally hoped they could use that prime space for more student housing or something like that. But this will do.

Maybe someone in opposition to this use of the building could enlighten me: do the schools ahead of SLU in the various university rankings close themselves off to international students? I can't imagine Ivy League schools would have something as frivolous as an international student center on campus. Pretty sure Georgetown and Boston College have "AMERICANS ONLY" on the gates. Right?

[TheA_Bomb]

Great.

Let's bring in global competitors, educate them, allow them to use their superior USA education to compete against the us, using slave labor to undercut our costs of manufacturing after they develop business plans, etc.

India is among the most famous for obtaining USA scholarships, though there are plenty others, attending USA universities, getting MBA's, science PhD's, whatever, then going back and using their education to undercut USA countries.

I have personally been contacted and / or involved in these situations in the medical device and pharmaceutical businesses. Paying people slave labor, they can still ship over the oceans and low ball our prices. I mostly told them to stuff it.

Damn I liked that gym. Now it is a foo-foo political symbol of our foolish generosity. They are laughing at us. We are getting scammed.

Damn right about this stuff.

Also is Ikea paying SLU to have a showroom right on campus? Used to be a place where men went to sweat but now it looks like a place to sip some fair trade flavored coffee.

[JMM28]

But wait - i thought Biondi tore down all the old buildings?!?

[Box and Won]

I've initiated a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the Lee Greenwood Institute for Murican Studies. I have already commissioned a giant mural depicting an eagle crapping on Smart Car.

[jbizzle09]

I've initiated a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the Lee Greenwood Institute for Murican Studies. I have already commissioned a giant mural depicting an eagle crapping on Smart Car.

Some of the classes and exhibits that will be held there are:

Charlie Daniels: A Discussion on Flag Appreciation

Japan: 21st Century Partner or Sneaky Bastards?

Frank Lutz: How to Say Racist Things But Not Sound Racist

[JMM28]

bizzle - nothing on that commie bastard Putin? Disappointing at best. No confidence.

[Bobby Metzinger]

Some of the classes and exhibits that will be held there are:

Charlie Daniels: A Discussion on Flag Appreciation

Japan: 21st Century Partner or Sneaky Bastards?

Frank Lutz: How to Say Racist Things But Not Sound Racist

Don't forget about Hank Williams, Jr.'s Nepotism 101 and his lecture "What If Bragg had more troops?" - a hypothetical look at the battle of Franklin and the disaster on the Cumberland River.

[cgeldmacher]

But wait - i thought Biondi tore down all the old buildings?!?

+1000

That was exactly my thought. SLU saves the historic West Pine Gym and finds an alternate use for it, but gets criticized for tearing down old rat and insect infested, nobody wants to use them, partially fallen down, old ass row houses.

[Box and Won]

+1000

That was exactly my thought. SLU saves the historic West Pine Gym and finds an alternate use for it, but gets criticized for tearing down old rat and insect infested, nobody wants to use them, partially fallen down, old ass row houses.

This was a creative reuse of a historic building, and the university should be applauded for it.

That doesn't mean it hasn't made poor decisions in regard to other historic buildings.

[slufanskip]

+1000

That was exactly my thought. SLU saves the historic West Pine Gym and finds an alternate use for it, but gets criticized for tearing down old rat and insect infested, nobody wants to use them, partially fallen down, old ass row houses.

I believe the criteria for saving a building is having a smokestack. Smokestacks are historic by definition

[slufanskip]

My best memory of West Pine ... One of the years I took my teams to the ladies games. We are sitting in the 1st few rows right over the Billiken Bench. These are 8-13 year old girls leaning over the railing and watching the girls on the bench. Shimmy subs out for a player and calls the player over, grabs her and just lays into her F bombs and G damns flying like mad as loud as Shimmy can yell. I looked at some of the parents and immediately decided we should find different seating. I have parents still laughing about that today

[Pistol]

One thing I like about the inside of this building is that it gives students more common space, a major shortcoming of the Busch Student Center redesign.

[RiseAndGrind]

This was a creative reuse of a historic building, and the university should be applauded for it.

That doesn't mean it hasn't made poor decisions in regard to other historic buildings.

Yup!

And the fact that it was virtually impossible to tear down West Pine. Congrats - you didn't do something you weren't allowed to do!

[ACE]

From a SLU basketball fan's standpoint, I don't understand how this can be a negative. We no longer have to take recruits in there to show them one of the worst facilities in Division I for practice and conditioning. They could have turned it into the MB73 School of Interpretive Ballet for all I care.

As it stands, it looks pretty nice. For those who haven't looked through the slideshow, there's an auditorium on the other side of the partition. Given the limitations of the building, they did what appears to be a nice job with it. My understanding is that there were a lot of challenges to tearing the building down, so there were going to be very limited options for what they could do with it. I had originally hoped they could use that prime space for more student housing or something like that. But this will do.

Maybe someone in opposition to this use of the building could enlighten me: do the schools ahead of SLU in the various university rankings close themselves off to international students? I can't imagine Ivy League schools would have something as frivolous as an international student center on campus. Pretty sure Georgetown and Boston College have "AMERICANS ONLY" on the gates. Right?

Also, considering how many foreign players we have been recruiting in recent years, this can't be a bad thing. I say foreign students are welcome as long as they are tall, athletic and possess great jumpshots

[bonwich]

Also, considering how many foreign players we have been recruiting in recent years, this can't be a bad thing. I say foreign students are welcome as long as they are tall, athletic and possess great jumpshots

Bullsh!t. We don't want none of them furners unless they can dunk.

[bonwich]

PS: You wanna see an interesting historical perspective from Billikens.com? Check out a discussion we had five years ago about the merits and probability of renovating West Pine:

http://www.billikens.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14631

Also: There's some sniping in that thread about tearing down an old apartment building. Here's an interesting present-day contrast:





Vacant St. Louis building to become housing for homeless vets